Power carpet pile conditioner



Feb. 27, 1962 K. E. HEBENSTREIT 3,

POWER CARPET PILE CONDITIONER Filed Feb. 20, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

157924 E HEBENSTEE/T Feb. 27, 1962 K. E. HEBENSTRElT 3,022,533

POWER CARPET PILE CONDITIONER Filed Feb. 20, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. J02 T 62 6/ 1592; 51%50/5725/7 9o 5' BYv 6'3 30 v [I v 6 J "-15 5.9 flr'rae/vEM United States Patent 3,022,533 POWER CARPET PILE CONDITIONER Karl E. Hebenstreit, Burbank, Calif. (143 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles 4, Calif.) Filed Feb. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 794,711 1 Claim. (Cl. 15354) This invention relates to the art of carpet cleaning and particularly to a power carpet pile conditioner.

The general function of a machine of this type is to brush dirt and loose pile from a carpet and remove this by vacuum, the brushing action being such as to raise the pile from matted condition and leave it standing uniformly to present the full beauty of the carpet. Heretofore a separate vacuuming operation was required in the cleaning of carpet preparatory to applying a liquid detergent for a wet cleaning operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a power carpet pile conditioner which will replace this initial vacuuming operation in the cleaning of carpet and effect a removal of dead pile, dirt and grit from the carpet in a single operation, while loosening up and elevating the pile to render the subsequent wet cleaning operation especially effective.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel power carpet pile conditioner having a rotary brush of relatively large diameter constructed in a manner to effeet a spiral grooming action on the carpet simultaneously with brushing and vacuuming the same.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a power carpet pile conditioner the brush of which may be disassembled by the use of a simple Allen wrench and be readily removed from the drive shaft on which it is mounted and reversed in position and reassembled thereon without requiring any special skill tocorrectly reassemble the brush.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a' novel power carpet pile conditioner which, although relatively light in weight is rugged in construction and possessed of a long operating life.

A further object of the invention is to provide a power carpet pile conditioner which has a high pile conditioning capacity with relatively low horsepower and possesses the ability to work close to Walls and get into corners.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a power carpet pile conditioner which is readily adjustable manually to vary the downward pressure with which the rotating brush thereof is applied to the carpet.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a power carpet pile conditioner which performs its function of completely removing the dead pile from a carpet with practically no pile clipping.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view partly broken away of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the grooming brush of the invention taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a detailed enlarged horizontal sectional view of the adjusting nut of the invention, and is taken on the line 77 of FIG. 3.

Referring specifically tothe drawings, the invention is there illustrated as embodied in a-power carpet pile conditioner 10 having a shell 11 which is preferably formed of a single aluminum casting including a relatively high front wall 12, a relatively low rear wall 13, side walls 14 and 15 and a rearwardly sloping upper wall 16. The four walls 12, 13, 1 and 15 are fiat and disposed approximately vertically while the conditioner 10 is in its normal working attitude as shown in FIG. 1. Side walls 14 and 15 make a fairly sharp angle where they join with upper wall 16 while front wall 12 merges with the upper wall through a curved upper section 17 of relatively large radius whereas the rear wall 13 merges with the upper wall 16 through a curved section 18 of slightly less radius than the section 17.

Formed integrally with the shell 11 at the juncture of the upper wall 16 with the curved section 17 of front Wall 12 is a vacuum unit supporting neck 19 providing a suction throat 20 which is elongated transversely by channels 21 where this throat connects with a rotary brush chamber 22 formed in the forward portion of the shell 11.

Cooperating with the shell 11 in the formation of chamber 22 is a fiat vertical transverse partition 27 having a forwardly curved upper section 28, and a longitudinal flat vertical partition 29. The right vertical edge of partition 27 conforms to shell side wall 15 and has a lug 30 for receiving a screw 31 which unites partition 27 with said side wall. The upper edge portion 32 of the transverse partition 27 snugly engages the upper shell wall 16 and conforms to the outline of the throat 20 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Screws 33 and 34 secure the upper edge portion 32 of arcuate section 28 of transverse partition 27 to the top wall 16 of shell 11.

The longitudinal vertical partition 29 snugly engages the left edge of the vertical partition 27, including arcuate upper section 28 thereof, as Well as snugly engaging the top shell wall 16, the front wall 12 and the upper curved section 17 of the latter so as to close the left hand end of the rotary brush chamber 22. This partition has a hole 35, the purpose of which will be made clear hereinafter. Partition 29 also has lugs 40, 41 and 42 for receiving screws 43, 34 and 44 for securing partition 29' to partition 27, to shell upper wall16, and to shell front wall 12, respectively.

The upper wall 16 of shell 11 has formed integrally therewith a double boss 45 which is horizontally surfaced at its upper and lower ends and is provided with a vertical bore 46 having a square counterbore 47 for receiving a square nut 43 which is held in place by a washer 49 secured to boss 45 by screws 50. The purpose of this nut will be made clear hereinafter.

The upper shell wall 16 is also provided with a belt slot (FIG. 5), and a belt guard 56 is mounted on the exterier ofupper wall 16 covering said slot.

The upper shell wall 16 also has formed integrally therewith a pair of transversely aligned lugs 57 and, some distance rearwardly therefrom, a similar pair of lugs 58, the purpose of which will be made clear hereinafter.

Screwed from the inside of shell 11 into a pair of coaxial tapped holes provided in side walls 14 and 15 just forwardly of rear wall 13 are a pair of studs 59 over which the inner races of ball bearing rollers 60 fit to rotatably mount said rollers on said studs. The studs 59 have axial tapped holes extending therein from their inner ends for receiving cap screws 61 which extend through side members 62 of a U-shaped frame 63 having a transverse member 64 from which the members 62 are bent and which terminates close to the screws 61. The members 62 extend horizontally forwardly 'from the wheels 60 and are apertured at their front ends to receive stud bolts 65 which fit the inner races of and rotatably support ball bearing rollers 66 and have inner threaded ends 67 of diminished diameter which are screwed into tapped coaxial holes provided in opposite bristles.

ends of a transverse bar 68 which is thus united with the U-frame 63 to form a rectangular frame supporting the wheels 66 and pivotally mounted on cap screws 61.

The transverse bar 63 is' reinforced by a short bar 74 secured to bar 68 by pins 75, there being a vertical bore 76 extending downwardly through said bars.

Screwed vertically through the nut 48 and having a turned' down portion 77 at its lower end is a manual adjustment screw 78. The portion 77 of this screw is threaded at its lower end and extends downwardly through a thrust'bearing 79 and then through the bore 76 formed said screw. The screw 78 is provided with a collar 81 that of the core 163 is 3 inches, thus making the bristles stand 1% inches from the core to the periphery of the brush. The circumferential dimension of each of the double tuft bristle rows is A of an inch and the circumferential spacing of bristle rows on centers along the cylindrical periphery of the brush is 4.32 inches. The brush 192 is preferably about 12 inches long and the pitch of the respective double rows of bristles is that which will permit this to be uniform in all such rows and have two rows of bristles provided on each of the core-halves 104 so that a total of four double helical to limit the downward movement or the screw through the nut 48and has a knob 82 on its upper end to be gripped manually for rotating the screw.

Secured to inner faces of side walls 14 and of shell .11 in coaxial alignment with eachother and with the aperture 35 in longitudinal partition 29 by Allen screws 83 are cartridge ball bearings 88, the inner races of which receive turned down end portions 89 of a brush shaft 90. This shaft'has two keyways formed therein for receiving keys 91"and 92 which are disposed respectively adjacent opposite ends of shaft 9e and lie on opposite sides of the shaft in the same diametral plane. The shaft "90 and key 91 extend through the aperture 35 in partition 29, this aperture being large enough so as not to inter- 'fere with the free rotation of said shaft and key therein.

Fixed on shaft 90 between partition 29 and shell end wall 14 and keyed to said shaft by key 91 is a driven pulley 93. This pulley is connected by adrive belt 94, which extends upwardly through slot 55 into belt guard 56, to a drive pulley 95 provided on the shaft 96 of a i brushrotating motor 97 mounted on the upper shell wall *Fired' on shaft 90 so as to be rotatable thereby in the brush chamber 22 is a rotary brush 102. This brush includes a cylindrical core 103 which is preferably fonned -in two semi-cylindrical halves 164 which are hollow and each of which has opposite end walls 195 and 106. The end wall 1&5 of each rof the core-halves1tl4 is secured to the end wall .136 of the other core half by Allen screws 197 which are received in suitable counter-bored holesione of which is formed in each of these end walls and extend into tapped holes one of which is provided in each of said end walls, as shown in'FIG. 6. v

The core 1tl3'is bored concentrically at its ends toprovide half-bores 198 and 1:39 respectively in the end walls 105 and 1136 of the core-halves 104. Each of the half-bores 16811 35 a keyway 111} formed therein, while the half-bores 109 are smooth and semi-cylindrical in either of two, end-to-end reversed positions, without it. being possible to reverse the core-halves 104 relative to each other, in reassemblirig them on the shaft.

7 The core 103 is provided in a well-known manner with bored pockets 111 for receiving tufts 112 of nylon The pockets 111 and tufts 112 mounted therein are formed in parallel helical lines with the pockets in staggered relation with each other and thus position said bristles in double massed helical rows with a counterclockwise pitch and with two of these double rows of bristles formed o n each of the core-halves 104. 7

his desired to emphasize that much of the superior results obtained by the operation of the present invention is attributed to the particular proportions and arrangemerit of thevarious elements comprising the brush 102.

rows of bristles 112 are provided on the brush.

Mounted on the upper end of the neck 19 is a vacuum unit 117 including a vacuum blower 118, a motor 119 and a porous bag 12%) forseparating the dirt from the air delivered from the blower 118.

For manipulating the power carpet pile conditioner 10, a tubular metal handle 121 is-provided, the lower end of which is fixed in a yoke 122 which is pivotally connected by pins 123 to'the lugs 58, upstanding from the shell upper'wall 16. Mounted to be slidable along the handle '122 is asplit clamp 124 which is pivotally connected by a bolt 125, having a wing nut 126 for tightening said clamp,to upper ends of a pair of diverging bars 127. These bars extend downwardly-and are bent so as to'cause their lower 'ends to be-parallel, and these ends are provided with perforations by which they are .pivotally' united :with upper shell wall lugs 57' by pins The upper end of the handle'121 is provided with a crosshead 132 having handles '133 and embodying a switch 134 to which electricity is delivered through a service cord 135. Switch 134 is connected by an electrical cable 136 extending downwardly through hollow handle 121 to the motors 97 and 119 so that when said switch is closed by a hand gripping one ofthe handles 133 these motors are energized so that the vacuum unit 117 sucks air .upwardlyl'from the brush chamber 122 through the throat 20 and discharges this'air into the filter bag'120, while the motor97 rapidly rotates the brush 102 in a cloclnvise direction, when this is viewed 'as in FIGS. 1 and 3. 'The speed of this rotation is prefthe different conditions these rugs are in, and adjustment of the machine to adapt it to the operating conditions met with in eachinstance' is provided by the screw 78 and handle 82 by which the screw may be rotated to vary the vertical relation of the wheels 66 with the shell 11 of the device. Two different examples of such adjustment are shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, FIG. 1 showing the rollers 66 adjusted downwardlyso'that the brush 102'operates at a horizontal level about a quarter of an inch above the plane tangent with lower surfaces of wheels 69 and 66. In FIG. 3. this adjustment is such that the brush 1112 is tangent with this plane. In the latter adjustment the device 10 may also be used as a floor. waxer. The upper end of bag is provided withthe usual closure clip 140 which is connected through a spring 141 and cable 142 to the crosshead 132 on the upper end of thehandle '121.

Regulation of the height of the crosshead 132 on the handle can readily be accomplished by loosening the wing nut 126 and swinging the handle 121 upwardly or downwardly to adjust the crosshead to that height which is The preferred diameter of the brush is 5%. inches, and flexed in the opposite direction to that in which the oller 162 is rotating. When this occurs, it is advisable to reverse the brush 102 on the shaft 90. In the present device this can be readily accomplished, without calling in skilled labor, and merely by the application of an Allen wrench to the screws 107 so that these may be removed and then replaced after the two core-halves 104 have been replaced in reversed positions on the shaft 90. As above noted, it is impossible to reverse one of the core-halves L94 without reversing the other core-half. Thus no mistakes can be made in reassembling the brush 102 such as would be the case if it was possible to reverse one of the core-halves 104 without reversing the other.

This arrangement also results in each of the core-halves 104 being identical to the other so that only one kind of core-half needs to be stocked for replacement purposes in servicing the machine 10.

To protect walls, base boards and furniture near which the conditioner is being operated, the shell 11 is provided with a rubber bumper band 145 extending entirely around this.

While only a single embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in the present application, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in this without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A power carpet pile conditioner comprising: a rectangular unitary shell including a sloping upper wall, side walls, and front and rear walls, the bottom of said shell being open; partition means partitioning off a space adjacent said front wall within said shell to provide a downwardly opening suction chamber; neck means on said upper shell wall forming a vacuum throat communicating downwardly with said chamber; a power vacuum unit mounted on said neck means to suck air upwardly through said throat from said chamber; said shell having concentric axles mounted directly on said side walls, said wheels lying close to said side walls and close to said rear wall; a horizontal transverse adjusting bar disposed parallel with said chamber and close to said partition means; a second pair of wheels rotatably concentrically mounted on opposite ends of said bar; a U-shaped frame including a transverse member and two spacer link members bent from opposite ends of said transverse member and lying parallelwith said side walls and pivotally connected at their rear ends to said axles and at their front ends to opposite ends of said bar, said transverse member lying close to said rear wall; and screw means mounted in said upper wall, and manually operable from above the latter, said means connecting centrally with said bar and manually accomplishing the vertical adjustment of said second pair of wheels relative to said shell.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,095,327 Irvine May 5, 1914 1,288,312 7 Wagner Dec. 17, 1918 1,449,003 Hoover Mar. 20, 1923 1,996,544 Justice Apr. 2, 1935 2,199,615 Casper May 7, 1940 2,542,024 George et al Feb. 20, 1951 2,659,921 Osborn Nov. 24, 1953 2,707,792 Waller May 10, 1955 2,823,412 Kirby Feb. 18, 1958 2,862,224 Swanson et al. Dec. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,147,833 France June 11, 1957 apair of wheels within 

